Much concern over individual safety has arisen in recent times in view of an alarming increase in crime and fires. Of particular importance to travelers, and of no less significance to the homeowner and tenant, is the lack of adequate systems in both temporary (e.g., hotels and motels) and permanent living areas to warn them of burglaries or other unauthorized intrusion into their rooms, and the sudden occurrence of deadly smoke or fire.
Many devices have been developed for use by travelers, homeowners and tenants to warn them of burglaries. Still other devices have been developed to warn of lethal concentrations of smoke or intensities of heat. In order to be assured of protection against all major dangers, it would be necessary to employ two or more devices, a costly alternative for which there may not be sufficient space. Moreover, such an impractical combination of independent alarms may still leave one with inadequate coverage in that the alarms frequently would not enable the user to distinguish between different perils, leaving one without knowledge of the proper corrective action to be taken, or the ability to effectuate such action.
It appears that only one unit provides both an alarm in the event of an unauthorized intrusion and an alarm in the event of a dangerous concentration of smoke, although this unit is still subject to many of the deficiencies noted above. For example, not only is this unit large and heavy, it cannot detect smokeless fires, provides no light by which one may escape should a power outage occur, provides no visual indication of an alarm as would be necessary for the deaf, and fails to auditorily distinguish between an unauthorized intrusion and a high concentration of smoke for which markedly distinct responses must be made.